The notorious gang leader is accused of threatening to kill Ecuador’s presidential candidate just before he was killed.
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The transfer of Ecuadorian gang leader Jose Adolfo Macias (also known as “Fito”) to a high-security prison required 3,600 soldiers and police officers. Fito is accused of threatening to kill presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was shot dead outside a campaign rally on Wednesday. Six Colombian nationals are arrested in connection with the murder, while the connection to Fito’s gang is uncertain. The recent violence has left Ecuador in shock and doubts about the country’s security. Show more
It took 3,600 soldiers and police officers to move Jose Adolfo Macias from one prison building to another.
Now the gang leader, better known as “Fito”, has been moved to the high security department in the city of Guayaquil.
Rumor has it that he controls all crime i Ecuador.
Videos and photos show armed soldiers escorting him around the prison facility, wearing only handcuffs and underwear.
It is feared that the transfer will start a riot in the prison, and it has thus been put in emergency mode.
Until now, the 43-year-old gang leader has been held in a regional prison.
It happens a few days after presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio (59) was shot and killed outside an election campaign meeting.
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Photo: JOINT COMMAND OF THE ARMED FORCE / Reuters Photo: GERARDO MENOSCAL / AFP / NTB Photo: – / AFP / NTB Photo: – / AFP / NTB
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Foto: JOINT COMMAND OF THE ARMED FORCE / Reuters
Accused of death threats
It was on Wednesday that 30-40 shots were fired from a machine gun as the politician was on his way to his car after the election campaign meeting on Wednesday.
Three of them hit him in the head.
The political murder of Villavicencio shakes Ecuador.
Witnesses have told of blood trails along the floor and people falling to the ground. At least nine people were injured in the shooting.
Foto: ECUADOR GOVERNMENT / Reuters
Villavicencio was known as a clear opponent of corruption. He campaigned with police protection.
Just before he was killed, the presidential candidate claimed that “Fito” had threatened to kill him.
– It was a warning that if I continued to mention him or his network, they will attack or kill me, said the now deceased presidential candidate.
Villavicencio filed an official complaint about the threats on the recommendation of his police bodyguards.
He was one of a total of eight presidential candidates. Earlier in the election campaign, he received police protection, after it had just been assessed that he was a target for assassination.
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Photo: HENRY ROMERO / Reuters / NTB Photo: HENRY ROMERO / Reuters / NTB Photo: HENRY ROMERO / Reuters / NTB
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Photo: HENRY ROMERO / Reuters / NTB
Six Colombian citizens have been arrested in connection with the murder. A seventh suspect was killed in the shootout.
It is not yet known who they are or whether someone paid them.
It is also uncertain whether they have any connection to the gang that Fito leads, which is called Los Choneros.
Foto: ECUADOR GOVERNMENT / Reuters
Los Choneros is described as one of Ecuador’s most powerful and dangerous criminal gangs.
The gang is supposed to be part of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, writes El País International. Fito became the leader of the gang after the murder of the previous leader Rasquiña.
The murder of Rasquiña in 2020 set in motion a violent power struggle which, among other things, resulted in several massacres in prisons in Ecuador.
Photo: – / AFP / NTB
Shock atmosphere
The Danish freelance journalist Line Josefsen Hermann is in Quito.
At the weekend, she told VG that the population of the country is in shock.
– There is a special atmosphere here. It is no longer the small, safe country it was once known as. Horror and disbelief sum up the situation: If the state cannot protect the life of a presidential candidate – who is really safe here?
Ecuador has historically been a relatively safe and stable country in Latin America, but crime has exploded in recent years.
Ecuador’s geographical location between the two major cocaine producers Colombia and Peru, combined with lax controls, has made the country a center for international drug trafficking.
The US federal police FBI sends investigators to Ecuador to assist in finding those behind the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, writes NTB Sunday evening.
Foto: ECUADOR GOVERNMENT / Reuters
Vice presidential candidate takes over
– I am not afraid of death, because I have already overcome it, the late Villavicencio told his followers in July in connection with threats he had received.
The threats turned out to be very real.
After the murder of Villavicencio, his vice-presidential candidate Andrea Gonzalez steps up.
It was made clear through an announcement from the center-oriented Construye party on the night of Sunday Norwegian time.
The presidential election in Ecuador is scheduled to be held on 20 August.
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Published: 14.08.23 at 01:47
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2023-08-13 23:47:37
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